Friends of the Ranch

Brad Miller

Brad Miller received his MFA from University of Oregon. His work, which revolves around reconfiguring nature’s patterning and structural systems in new and unusual ways, is in the collections of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC. Brad lives and works in Venice, CA.

Learn More

Peter Waanders

President

Peter embraces art-making as a neophyte – exploring various mediums for the simple pleasure of learning and making. He brought his business management and leadership experience to Anderson Ranch after serving as the Director of Society of Fellows at the Aspen Institute. Peter is active in the Roaring Fork Valley, having served as president of the Aspen Young Professional Association, President of the Rotary Club of Aspen, and on the board of The Buddy Program. He is currently the Vice-Chair of the Aspen Public Education Fund. He is married with two children. Preferred Pronouns: He/Him

Learn More

Betsy Chaffin

The Center: Advanced Mentorship Program Participant (2021 - 2024)

For Betsy Chaffin art has been a long-standing passion.  It was not the classroom of an MFA program that formed the philosophy and basis of her work; but the good fortune of participating in workshops at Anderson Ranch conducted by some of the country’s leading artists and art educators including Roy Dowell, John Gill, Jane Hammond, Holly Hughes, Roberto Juarez, and James Surls. These intense workshops provided an opportunity to spend quality time with the instructing artist. Chaffin is now in her first year of participating in The Center for Advanced Mentored Studies at Anderson Ranch, a three-year program with master faculty artists, Holly Hughes and Shahzia Sikander.  “ This is a remarkable opportunity to engage in a critical dialogue to push my own studio practice.  Shazia and Holly have already provided an amazing context of critical thinking and positive energy.” She works in a variety of forms including painting, collage, ceramics and photography.  Her work is included in private collections throughout the United States.  She lives and has studios in Spring Island, South Carolina and Basalt, Colorado.  Betsy has twice been invited to be a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome and she was selected to participate in the Residency Program at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center

Learn More

James Baker

James Baker served as the Executive Director of Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle and Stanwood, Washington (2010-18), as President of Maine College of Art in Portland, Maine (2006-10), and as Executive Director of Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado (1995-2006). Baker received his undergraduate degree in Meteorology from The Pennsylvania State University in 1973 and his Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1975. He served as a tenured Assistant Professor of Art at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and as a tenured Associate Professor of Arts and Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas. In 1986, he accepted the position of Program Director for Photography at Anderson Ranch Arts Center and in 1995 accepted the board’s invitation to serve as Executive Director. He produced the nationally touring exhibition Photography: The Selected Image with Gerald Lang (1977) and a touring exhibition for the State of Maine, Re-envisioning Portland (2007). At Anderson Ranch Arts Center, he organized regional and national symposia including The Political Landscape with Richard Misrach (1989), Art into Action: Public Art for People with Arlene Raven (1994), and High Tech/High Touch with Barbara Bloemink (2005). His photographs have been shown nationally in solo and group exhibitions and are represented in private and museum collections. He received a Colorado Individual Artist’s Fellowship (1988) and later served as a juror for the Colorado Council on the Arts. He has also served as a juror for the National Endowment for the Arts and written on the arts for publications including Outside Magazine, Glass: the UrbanGlass Art Quarterly, and as a Contributing Editor for Aspen Magazine. He hosted a weekly radio program interviewing visual artists, writers, poets, and filmmakers on Central Colorado’s regional NPR station KAJX (1995-2006). Nationally, Baker has served on the boards of the Alliance of Artists Communities (chair 2004-05) and the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design.

Learn More